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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  June 25, 2015 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT

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sed by a mob of taxi drivers who threw rocks. courtney love escaping a mob on a motorcycle. that's a little uber the top. jeanne moos cnn, new york. >> thank you so much for joining us. set your dvr, you can record the show at any time. thank you for watching. ac 360 starts with andersen cooper right now. good evening. thank you for joining us. yet more new developments tonight in the new york prison break and later a story with plenty of parallels. a prison worker falling for a killer and helping him escape. only this one involved a dog crate not a catwalk and puppy treats and not chopped meat. we'll talk with a dog handler who smuggled her murderous lover out of prison. we begin in upstate new york where the prison guard who gave killer richard matt tools and access to the catwalk and finally may 30th delivered the ground beef with the hacksaw blades in it. a meal that joyce mitchell
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cooked up for him. the guard gene palmer has spoken to one of our producers. the latest on that. we are also learning even more including what he told new york state police about the favors he did for matt and david sweat. and in addition mr. palmer has a new attorney. he has also got a new court date. and alexandra field has the the latest on all of it including breaking news yet one more factor that may have helped sweat and matt prepare their escape. alexandra, what have you learned? >> good evening, anderson. cnn learned that investigators are now looking at whether prison guards on the honor block may have been sleeping during their evening shifts which would have potentially allowed richard matt and david sweat to prepare for they escape unsupervised. the inspector general's office launched a full investigation. they have been onsite at the prison. they're trying to determine whether and what extent any prison protocols may have been breached. at the same time gene palmer is speaking to constituent police giving them a look at what was really happening behind bars. >> reporter: an official closer
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to the investigation tells cnn gene palmer a prison guard, gave at least one of the now escaped inmates, a screwdriver and needle nosed pliers supposedly to help fix electrical breakers behind their cells alug the two men to scout out their escape route. the tools were later found at palmer's home after police executed a search warrant. palmer, supervitzsed matt and sweat working on the breakers taking the tools back at the end of his shift. >> he didn't come forward and say i received paintings from matt and sweat, i provided them with needle nosed pliers. those are things he did not disclose until he got caught. >> reporter: in an interview with new york state police palmer says he didn't realize the assistance he provided to matt or sweat may have made their escape easier. palmer tells investigator he's gave matt paint brushes and hamburger meat. in return he says he would receive elaborate paintings and information on illegal acts
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taking place inside the prison. according to court documents, palmer later tried to destroy the paintings by burning some in a fire pit and burying others in nearby woods. in an npr radio interview from 15 years ago, palmer describes life inside the clinton correctional facility as a negative environment. he went on to say that life as a prison guard is as miserable as the the lives of the prisoners themselves. >> with the money that they pay you you'll go bald you will have high blood pressure you'll become an al kol holcoholic and divorce and kill yourself. >> i want to bring in our correspondent who spoke recently with gene palmer. you've spoke to gene palmer shortly after he talked to police after he had been questioned. what was the state of mind then? >> he was frightened. sort of there was a sense of despair, sort of what did i do? and he felt really really bad.
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you could see the pain all over his face. at one point, he started to cry. when he was thinking about his family and sort of what he did. and what life would be lookike for him now. this man was a corrections officer for 28 years. he was, you know part of what he called a law enforcement team. and never did he ever expect something like this to happen and he had no in ten forcing this to happen. and, you know i sort of felt that he really sort of felt that he -- felt betrayed betrayed by the prisoners, matt sweat, he befriended at the jail who were providing him with information, and really people he felt were helping him and he was in some ways helping them and there was nothing wrong with that in his mind. >> alexandra, what's next for gene palmer? >> well whatever he thought, felt expressed to investigators he is still facing pretty
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serious charges ss three felony charges. he was scheduled to have an appearance this afternoon. he was not there for that. the hearing was postponed until monday. a new attorney will be taking over this increasingly high profile face. >> appreciate the reporting. joining us former new york city corrections deputy warden ed gavin and brian manne who did interview in alexandra's report. that interview was fast night, he was your guide on a story 15 years ago the north yard of the prison. an area controlled mostly by the inmates they kept barbecue grills recreation gardens, this was happening inside a maximum security prison. did it surprise you? >> yeah i was blown away by what i saw. i saw inmates working with power tools. i saw inmates with an enormous amount of liberty. the gang activity there sets the pace for a lot of the life that
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goes on behind the big white wall at dannemora. it is really important to understand andersen there are about 3,000 inmates in that facility. there is sort of a little world in there. the inmates define much of that world. they also have this relationship with the corrections officers that develops over time. so what i saw in there it was literally like walking into a completely different culture, a completely different world where the inmates have far more freedom and also far more control than i ever understood before. >> you have done a lot of reporting on the prison system. how common are these types of freedoms that you have seen? >> i think some of it is more common than people understand. for example in correctional facilities all over the united states it's common for inmates to help do maintenance work. it's common for them to do grounds keeping. so inmates often know a lot more about how a correctional facility operates than than you know seems to make sense to people outside.
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there its also -- this i think is really shocking to people -- there is a kind of intimacy that develops between corrections officers civilian staff, and these inmates. you know in this case gene palmer was working very closely with these two inmates for a very long time. i mean richard matt moved into that block in 2009. that means that you know he got to know gene palmer over a period of many many years. and slowly you do develop levels of trust, levels of understanding, and, and most corrections officers know how to work the gray zone, how to live in that ambiguous place without crossing the bright lines. and gene palmer clearly crossed some bright lines here. >> ed when you hear this about sort of areas that prisoners seem to control and that relationship that clearly existed and grew over time between the people. what do you think? >> i say, gene palmer crossed the line. how do you give an inmate a
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screwdriver with a handle? that could be used as a shank? that is a weapon. he is a convicted killer. his partner is a convicted killer. >> not only a convicted killer. a police killer in the case of sweat and somebody who dismembered -- >> worst case sa theiry.nar scenario. he has a bad day. you gave him a shank. he can open you up with like a can opener. >> the he gave the guy hamburger meat without putting it through the metal detector to you that is simply unbelievable? >> i can't believe it no. there is just no excuse for it. none whatsoever. i have never heard of anything like that where a sworn uniformed member of service would do something like that. at the behest of a civilian employee. like i said he was duty bound from the moment she asked him to do that to report it. >> as somebody who worked in prisons how do you prevent that relationship from developing? clearly in the case of gene palmer he trusted these guys? awe thought is a personal
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choice. you have to have integrity. you have to have your integrity intact at all times. >> brian in your interview with palmer he talked how closely the guards and inmates collaborate, they trust each other, a carefully calibrated system of reward/punishment. i want to play a bit about what he had to say about the system. >> it works for us just as the the tv's work for us that we have for them in soap operas, you'd be surprised how stimulating they are for an individual. yes it does work. "days of our lives." >> after seeing all of this were you surprised the system seems to have failed? >> here's what i thought was sort of the way that maximum security prisons in new york worked. is that there were these strange cultural relationships, there were these sort of nuanced negotiated arrangements inside but that the outer perimeter was rock solid. and what we are seeing with the investigations that are under way at dannemora now is that
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slowly over time those protocols, those systems, broke down. and i think what we are going to see is joyce mitchell and gene palmer you know kind of the tip of the spear. there are going to be big questions asked about larger issues of supervision. who was monitoring the behavior of the corrections officers? were they working the kinds of shifts where they were some of them were sleeping on duty? i want to say, andersen it is very important to say, corrections officers here in the north country have an amazing record. most of them are extraordinarily devoted officers but, you know what we have seen over the years is there are officers who bring contraband into prisons, there are officers who cross these bright lines. usually they don't have consequences this dire. this is this its code red. this does happen. people cross these lines. >> ed do you believe this is the tip of the iceberg? that there is a lot mr. that needs to be looked into in this prison? >> absolutely.
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when you look at the nexus between joyce and gene both of them received paintings. both of them brauftought the paintings home. how many other officers received paintings from these guys? did gene provide paintings to other officers? did they bring in photos of their family? did the inmate then paint those? paint pictures for members of service? i think it has to be looked into. i think there is a lot more going on than we are being told. >> certainly being investigated right now. gavin, appreciate you being wit us. brian, you as well. growing fears that sweat and matt now may have of a weapon or weapons. plus a survival expert shows house to find the clues the fugitives are leaving and huh to use them to track the killers down. later the woman who fell for a murderer helped him escape and lived on the lam with him. her story, we'll talk to her ahead. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment.
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there is plenty breaking news tonight about gene palmer who wittingly or not helped matt and sweat break out. there is much concern about the two men still at large could very well be armed. gary tuchman joins us from the search zone in owls head new york. this is the 19th day of the manhunt, are they any closer to finding the guys?
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or are they pretty much where they were yesterday? >> andersen unfortunately no sign of the killers as of yet. they're increasing the numbers of resources. there are more than 1,100. federal, state, local police officers on the scene. they're mostly patrolling the area here in owls head new york. and the town and franklin county where owls head is located. one of the issues these police officers face is they know there could be a violent ending. there is absolutely that possibility. what's happen right now. officers are looking at a lot of cabins there in the woods. there are hundreds of cabins in the woods here. most are empty. two reasons for that -- number one this is not the peak of the hunting season. number two many people who own the cabins aren't coming down because of what is going on. now what happens with a lot of the cabins is weapons are left behind. hunting guns over the winter. the cabins are locked. the hunting guns are left there. they're called camp guns. the idea is they come for the hunting season their guns are ready to go. that's the concern among many police officers here because
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they feel if the two killers didn't get weapons in the cabins where they're, in the cabin where their dna was found but they may have broken into another cabin and therefore have weapons. talk to 100 police officers hard to find one who doubts these guys are armed. and this town has completely changed, owls head what is happening, this is the kind of place anderson you go and people leave their doors open. they don't just leave them unlocked. leave them open on warm summer evenings. that is not happening. they're locking their doors. many who remain behind are armed. awe jaund stand you will see up close the kind of trail anybody might leave in the woods. these killers may be leaving in the woods without knowing it. first to one of the lead searchers, kevin mulverhill. he joins us now. sheriff, appreciate you booing with us. what can you tell us about where things stand now? have you had any credible sightings or leads? >> no the only credible sighting we had was the sighting
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saturday at the cabin where the dna was located. we had a number of sightings we have run, just to nothing, either they were they weren't the people we were looking for or there was just nothing there. >> can you just describe i mean the difficulties in searching? i think if somebody hasn't spent time in the outdoors in the woods they might not get a sense of just how tough this can be no matter how many people you have? >> well we have a couple of issues. one it is such a vast area. here in the northern end of the adirondack park. the foliage is extremely thick. we have had some heavy rains come through here recently. and like i say it is just extremely thick. difficult to walk through. and you know it's hilly, mount nus tearmount -- mountain territory. if it is not hilly, and mountainous, it is swampy and wet. difficult to traverse. >> people talk about creating a perimeter and moving in.
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how do you make sure that somebody isn't able to go back to an area -- one of these guys isn't able to go back to an area you searched in? a difficult thing to prevent. >> absolutely it is difficult to prevent. we will go back over those if need be. we are getting a lot of tips from the public. none that have been credible thus far. getting help phone calls. some from outside the perimeter. we are ensuring we still believe they're within the perimeter. we are checking the leads, everything that comes in is getting a really good look at. >> do you know one way or another whether matt and sweat are armed at this point? were there guns in the cabin that you know they breck intooke into. >> no guns that we are aware of. let's face it. they're convicted killers. committed homicides. they're intelligent men. brock out of maximum security prison. we believe if they had the opportunity to arm themselves they did. >> i talked to some people who
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have conducted man hunts in the past. talk about the need to pace the search out. how do you, how do you do that? when it has been going on for as long as it has been going on how do you keep people from just getting exhausted? obviously there is a lot of people out there who want to find them and working 'round-the-clock to do that? >> right. it's been i tell you it's been great as far as being able to relieve and keep the fatigue factor down. we are going in as teams. those teams are coming out. rested. hydrating them. keeping them well hydrated. police, law enforcement. going in three, four day shifts. completely switching out. so it, we're keeping our fatigue factor down which works to our advantage. they don't have that opportunity. >> sheriff, certainly hope you guys find these guys quickly. as soon as possible. appreciate all your efforts. thank you for talking to us tonight, sheriff mulverhill. for stefrl dayeveral days getting
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expert advice. today he took his expertise outdoors along with rosa flores. >> there is so much out here wants to stick you, poke you, sting you, bite you. >> shane hovall a survival and tracking trainer, meaning he teaches people how to live off the land and how to track down just about anything traveling through a forest. he is closely watching the manhunt in upstate new york. these escapees are not survivalists that we know of. >> right. >> so what would they be doing? >> you know the number one rule its shelter. you got to get out of the elements. >> reporter: aside from breaking into cabins for shelter and food shane says the escapees could be bundling under a pile of leaves to stay warm at night. but wouldn't be savvy enough to do much more. that is very noisy if you are frying trying to hide from authorities you wouldn't want to do that. >> correct. >> reporter: meaning what keeps
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them warm could be a huge clue for search teams. in fact, shane says their every move could give up their position if a trained eye, like his, could follow their tracks. for example, take a close look at this area. it could look like nothing to an untrained eye. >> immediately things are already popping out to me. >> look what? >> i already know there is tracks a track right here. this has been pushed down. this group right here and this group has been pushed forward. look at the color -- as the foot left it lifted the stick and pushed this into its place. because this is clearly not, natural behavior how this plant was growing. >> shane says this would technically be called a run. a series of signs showing someone ran through the woods. but not every clue is left on the ground. shane also looks for clues at
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shoulder level. if i moved here swiftly or a bit more with aggressive aggressive behavior i may have moved it in such a way that it did grab itself. and this is the type of thing that we'll look for. it's the thing that doesn't make sense out here. >> reporter: even if authorities trace every track, the disturbance on greenery down below or even branches up above, there is one other complicating factor. and that's the weather. severe rain could erase tracks left behind. >> rain has a tendency to wash tracks away completely. >> reporter: recent heavy rains in the area could help escapees stay one step ahead of authorities. but shane says, it is ohmnly a matter of time before they become desperate and make a mistake. rosa flores cnn, new york. >> fascinating to see the little clues. ahead, a prison escape foreshadowed this one in so many ways. we'll talk to a woman, dog
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handler, who got a bad case of puppy love for a killer smuggled him out of prison in a degree crate. later, solemn moments remembering the victims of the charleston church shooting as president obama prepares to eulogize the senior pastor tomorrow. boys? ♪ mamas, don't let your babies...♪ stop less. go more. the passat tdi clean diesel with up to 814 hwy miles per tank. hurry in and you can get 0% apr plus a one-thousand dollar volkswagen credit bonus on 2015 passat tdi clean diesel models. ♪ ♪ food should be good. people should dance. strawberries should sing. good bread makes the sandwich. good soil makes the salad. lettuce should be dirty.
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well wildly strange as the joyce mitchell, richard matt david sweat, gene palmer hamburger helper is. it may set ate part. but access for oil paintings for tailor shop and some have escaped in ways that rival what happened at clinton. working at the lansing correctional facility in kansas bringing in rescue dogs for the inmates to train. she fell for john maynard, and few months later struggled him out of the prison in a dog crate. served a sentence for her role, toby thank you for joining us. a lot of people who look at joyce mitchell wonder how
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somebody can get to a place where she helped somebody escape from prison. i wonder how it happened for you. what was it that this guy did or said that created that connection between the two of you? >> well, first of all, i think a woman has to be at a pin theoint where she is pretty broken and in a desperate statement. when you are in that state things that normally seem ridiculous don't seem so far-fetched. soen enin my instance i was working really hard. i had a lifetime where i worked really hard and performed at a high level. and i, i just felt this tremendous pressure to always be on and be my best for everybody and everything that i did. and i reached a breaking point. and in my case i happened to reach the breaking point just at the same time that an inmate took notice of me. and told me how nice i looked. and acted like he cared about what kind of a mood i was in on
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that particular day. >> was he somebody -- was he somebody who kind of you felt listened to you ors about you when other people didn't? >> yes, exactly. and we would spend a lot of time talking. and it was just you know human beings want to have a connection with somebody. when you have someone who just spends a lot of time talking to you and telling you things about you that you look to hear it's kind of just like pouring water on a dying plant. >> i know he sort of became your protector. an incident where somebody threatened you. he stepped in. he became your escort around the prison. did, i have talked to experts who say that often it starts with something small. like a small, will you do me a favor? it's kind of a baby step. and you, you kind of end up on this journey that you never thought you would end up being
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on. >> yes, exactly. and i think, you know anything in our life i think starts with baby steps. just like that. but in my case it was someone stuck up for me kept me from being physically accosted by an inmate. i felt in fear at that time. so it did kind of change the flavor of everything. but i do believe if i had been at a pin theoint where i was strong, courageous courageous not so broken, desperate. it wouldn't have mattered. wouldn't have happened. >> i know you took money out of your bank account or savings policy that you had. you bought a vehicle, an escape vehicle, did it seem real even the day you were driving to the prison to help him break out, did it seem like something this was really going to happen? >> no. it never seemed like it was going to happen. i still sometimes can't believe it did happen. the whole time we were talking about it it was kind of like a
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game. well what if this happened? what if this happened? and i never really believed it. until even the minute i was driving through the gate i didn't thing it was happening. but once i got outside the gate and he was in the van, then it was real. and i was just stunned. i can't look back and see a path i took that got me to that point. it just seemed like i was just there. >> did he come up with the plan? heap is he the one who proposed the plan? when heap fir first proposed it what did you think? >> well it was his idea. when he first proposed it. i just laughed, and said sure yeah that sounds like a great idea. but i never -- i never believed it was going to happen. i never -- thought that was something that was going to be real. >> and you -- >> and it was. >> you must have had an idea what the relationship would be like. you spent 12 days with him on
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the run, you were holed up don't know in a cabin or location. what were those 12 days like? was it as you anticipated it would be like? >> in some ways it was. in some ways it wasn't. it was kind of an artificial situation because, you know it just wasn't a normal situation. so there was some things that were fun and good. and some things that were scary and -- >> you ended up -- and i, as i said you both were caught. you ended up serving 27 months. i think he got an additional ten years tacked on to his sentence. and you changed your life. you have gone back to school. you have -- you have got divorced you. remarried. you are clearly, on a different path than you were. have you talked to him since the escape? do you think about him? >> well the difference was when
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i had a relationship with john maynard he was a person that i got to know very well. so a lot of things that i think about i do think about sometimes what his opinion would be of something. but i think today i am a lot stronger person. and a lot more courageous. i think i have grown. and we have started a nonprofit ministry where we mentor people getting out of prison and try to counsel them into making the right decisions. i have gone back to school and gotten a master's degree i have opened two businesses. i try to move forward with my life. and i try to -- do what i can to help other people. and one of the reasons why i have agreed to all these interviews is because, i feel like if i had spoken up two years ago, maybe joyce mitchell would have heard me. maybe it would have had an impact on what happened in new york. and maybe not. if it's not joyce mitchell who heard me. >> what would you say to another joyce mitchell.
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>> maybe somebody else would. >> i would say -- this isn't the kind of change you want to make in your life. this is a change that is going to be forcinged upon you. it is going to be difficult. and the price is very high. if you go in this direction, the price that you have to pay for your decision is a very high price. and a difficult one to pay. and -- what i would say is -- look at what things are not right in your life and come up with a different way to change them to do something different for your life. for joyce who made this decision and is in this position i would say -- move forward. you know work on healing the things that are obviously broken in you. so that you can bea stronger woman. and learn to be the kind of person that you have the potential to be. and don't let yourself be defined by this one act. you know move past it. >> well toby i appreciate you talking about this.
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i know it is not easy. can't be easy. and i do hope it helps somebody out there. toby dorr. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> well coming up a victory for the president. the supreme court rules on a major provision of obama care. we'll take a look at what today's ruling is going to mean for his administration and legacy next. it's so shiny. i know, mommy, but it's time to let the new kitchen get some sleep. if you want beautiful results, you know where to go - angie's list. now everyone can get highly rated service even without a membership. you can shop special offers or
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major victory for obamacare today from the supreme court in a 6-3 dedecision. it ruled in favor of the care act. in a statement in the rose garden president obama said the law is working exactly as it is supposed to. >> after multiple challenges to this law before the supreme court, the affordable care act is here to stay. this morning the court upheld the critical part of this law. the part that has made it easier for americans to afford health insurance regardless of where you live. if the partisan challenge to this law succeeded millions of americans would have had thousands of dollars worth of tax credits taken from them. for many insurance would have
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become unaffordable again. >> today's ruling isn't exactly the final word on obamacare, still challenges working their way through the court system but does represent a huge victory for the president. joining me now is cnn senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and presidential historian douglas brinkley. you weren't surprised. it was a huge victory for the president and legacy of the president? >> best day for this administration since he was re-elected maybe the best day since the death of osama bin laden. this puts him in a different category from jimmy carter from bill clinton. he is someone who will have a legislative legacy that will go on for decades and change the way people live in the country. >> can this be reversed? >> not by the courts at this point. there are parts of it that can be chipped away. it of course can be overturned if congress tries to pass a law repealing it or putting some other law in. that is part of why we have
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elections in this country. but, as a legal matter obamacare is settled. >> doug it is remarkable that obamacare was at first used as a pejorative, but twice now it has gone to the supreme court, twice it survived. if that name it is kind of a badge of honor now for the administration they use it. >> well absolutely. i was doing a magazine profile of president obama, you know back when he was running for re-election. they were unsure if obamacare should use the language. then the president grabbed ahold of it said i will own it if it means helping people with heart disease, cancer putting millions of people able to go to hospitals and get medical attention, i will own obamacare. think of it andersen people don't talk about social security being fdr care medicaid medicare as lbj care or something. so this is going to live for a very long time. and i agree with jeffrey, it is i think, his signature
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achievement as president. >> justice scalia said might as well call it scotus care. saying that not in a positive way. the ruling the fact it was 6-3. that surprised you? >> it did. i thought justice kennedy who voted the law was unconstitutional three years ago, the fact that he joined chief justice roberts and the four liberals did surprise me. and the breadth of chief justice's opinion. he didn't just say, president obama's interpretation is okay for him. but another president could come in and change it. he didn't say that. he said the law requires that the subsidies be available in all 50 states. so the breadth of the victory did surprise me. just how definitive it was. >> doug do you think chief justice roberts approaches the cases with his own legacy in mind. the current court known as the the roberts' court. the face of the court. >> no i don't think he does i
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don't think anything to do with legacy. i think he did what was right and what he thought was the most important thing. >> now i actually disagree with that. i think chief justice roberts does think about his legacy and you know each chief justice has issues that they care about, a lot. i think chief justice roberts cares about getting rid of racial preferences. that that's something that he is really embraced as something that he wants to get done. this was a very much a one off case. it wasn't even involving the constitution. ought ill all it involved was the interpretation of four words in one statute. i don't think chief justice roberts wanted his court to be known as the the court that took health insurance away from 6.5 million people. >> there are a number of huge cases still to be determined by the court. legalization of same-sex marriage when do you expect -- when are you looking at that? >> the court says they willer to decisions tomorrow at 10:00, and monday at 10:00. although they could add another
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day. i think there are five decisions outstanding by far the most important of which is same-sex marriage. i think 10:00 tomorrow. 10:00 monday likely for the decision. >> jeff toobin and doug brinkley as well thank you very much. on the president's schedule tomorrow, scheduled to give the eulogy at the funeral of reverend pinckney. we'll have a report from charleston next. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24.
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in charleston south carolina mourners gathered for ethel lance's funeral. lance was 70 years old. another funeral today for reverend sharonda singleton. her son described her as a woman who loved everybody with all her heart. president obama will deliver the eulogy for reverend clementa pinckney. his wake began at the same church where the attack took place. we are joined from charleston. you are outside the church. people have been lining up to view reverend pinckney all day. what is the mood like there tonight, alina machado? >> reporter: the mood here is somber. one of remembering the nine lives lost here. this viewing was supposed to be over at 8:00 eastern. this is why it is still going on right now. ic they a look at this line.
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this line actually goes down the street and around the building over there. there are hundreds of people who are waiting right now, still waiting to see reverend pinckney's casket. reverend pinckney's body right now. this is a spirit of his place here. love. what happened here a little over a week ago was all about hate. what we have been seeing here in charleston is all about love right now. >> i understand the killer's family released another statement today, what did they say? >> the killer's family released a statement from their attorney through their attorney basically saying that they know that there are still many questions behind the story. leading up to what happened here a week ago. in the statement they said they feel it is inappropriate for them though to say anything else right now other than that they are truly sorry for the loss that these families are experiencing. they want the focus right now to remain on these victims and their grieving families.
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>> what do we know about the funeral for reverend pinckney tomorrow? >> we know that a large bipartisan delegation from washington is expected to come to charleston tomorrow. we know the president will be here. the vice president. the first lady. and president obama has been working on this eulogy himself. we know that its focus is expected to be primarily on the nine lives lost here last week. but the white house has not ruled out the possibility that perhaps the president could address some of the controversial issues that have come to the forefront since the tragedy. >> alina machado good to have you there. thank you for joining us. one week after the massacre at emanuel ame, there are growing efforts in south carolina and across the country to remove the confederate flag from official dsplays and also store shelves. the backlash against confederate symbols doesn't end with stars. >> reporter: thousand of troops that fought across iraq and afghanistan shipped out from
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here fort bragg north carolina home of the elite 82nd airborne division. fort braggparatroopers jumped into normandy on d-day. despite the glorious history there is a more dubious past. fort bragg named after confederate general braxton bragg. one of ten army base as cross the south the pentagon says were named for confederate civil war generals decades ago as a gesture of reconciliation to a defeated south. >> these are things that were part of a different time it was part of building a nation unfortunately we had this great civil war. but these men who were the military leaders were for the most part very good tactician and strategists. >> reporter: well maybe not general bragg. >> he graduated very far down in
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his class at west point. i think it was some where in the 40s, out of 52 in the class. he was not the brightest of bulbs. >> reporter: amid the current controversy over the confederate flag some law makers now believe military tradition isn't enough to keep the names in place. >> there is a moment now to have a discussion related to the specific military installations and whether it is appropriate for those installations to be named after individuals who were fighting to uphold the institution of slavery. >> reporter: fort gordon georgia named for john b. gordon top general in the confederate army. at the age of 33 he led his forces in informal surrender, and he was widely considered to be the head of the ku klux klan in georgia. today fort gordon home to army intelligence cyberand communications operations. >> in fact the naming of these
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bases, these forts, were named mostly in the 20th century. in a very segregated south, standing on the shoulders of jim crow. >> reporter: fort pickett, virginia named after george pickett. in 1863 at gettysburg he led the assault known as pickett's charge. over 6,000 confederate soldiers died. it would be the last confederate charge to the north. for some just fighting for the south makes pickett a traitor. but for others it's all part of history. the army says it has no plans to rename any of its bases. today's army is 20% african-american. the largest of all of the services. barbara starr, cnn, pentagon. >> ahead more on the breaking news about prison guard gene palmer and the question of whether guards at dannemora were
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following breaks news -- on the front for escaped killers, david sweat and richard matt. the investigation focusing on whether guards were sleeping on the job when the inmates escaped 19 days ago. check back with alexandra field on the ground in upstate new york. the fact that the evening guards in the honor block could have contributed to the escape. what are you learning about
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that? >> yeah a question the inspector general's office will have to ask. they're doing a wide ranging investigation at the prison to see what protocol may have been breached. it boggles the mind to think the prisoners could have cut through the steel walls, steam pipes, shimmied through a manhole cover without detection. if investigators find that the corrections officers were sleeping in the honor guard during the evening shift, well then it would logically follow that these inmates were left unsupervised for significant periods of time perhaps over a significant period of time. >> there is more information about what gene palmer gave sweat and matt before their escape right? >> yeah he is facing some pretty serious charges. but he is speaking candidly to state police investigators. he said there were trades happening in prison. he was given paintings by them and information about potentially illegal activities. in exchange he gave them certain kinds of assistance panlt, paint brushes, hamburger meat and access to an electrical box
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in the catwalk, things that he thought were innocuous but turned out not to be. >> that does it for us tonight. we prooshappreciate you watching. we'll be back at 11:00 p.m. for another edition of "360" all the latest on the prisoners still out there some where the hunt is still on for them. the cnn original series "the seven tee sevent seventies" starts now. >> vietnam is the most divisive morally abrasive war americans have ever fought anywhere. >> it is time for the great silent majority to stand up and be counted. >> how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake. >> we will refuse to do it. you may be in jail but you won't be dead. >> military pressure will continue until a peace settlement is achieved. >> we can achieve peace with honor.